AFTER the seemingly eternal airplane travel from Manila with a stopover in Abu Dhabi then to the final destination in Frankfurt, I was exhausted. Deplaning, I felt the cool, crisp air of summer clime, chilly actually, cold to put it bluntly. So this is Germany.
What am I doing here? This was the thought that kept blowing the windmills of my mind. I kept shutting off the moving experience I had at the airport in Abu Dhabi. But the vision of the young Filipino lady who was weeping silently at the departure area etched a mark in my memory that cannot be erased. All I could say to her was “Don’t worry, everything will be okay!” She was headed to Kuwait. I surmised that she will work there. She will be fulfilling her dreams and her family’s. But she was already battling the onslaught of sadness and loneliness that goes with it. Homesickness.
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| Abu Dhabi International Airport |
What am I doing here? This was the thought that kept blowing the windmills of my mind. I kept shutting off the moving experience I had at the airport in Abu Dhabi. But the vision of the young Filipino lady who was weeping silently at the departure area etched a mark in my memory that cannot be erased. All I could say to her was “Don’t worry, everything will be okay!” She was headed to Kuwait. I surmised that she will work there. She will be fulfilling her dreams and her family’s. But she was already battling the onslaught of sadness and loneliness that goes with it. Homesickness.
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| View from my room in a Zurich flat |
My first morning in Europe was surreal. I still couldn’t shake off the vivid tears running down the Filipina’s face. Millions of Filipinos work for their families back home in the Philippines. If I would be poetic it is like an ocean of tears that has been shed by daughters, sisters, mothers, nieces, aunts, grandmothers, sons, brothers, fathers, nephews, uncles, and grandfathers. They have to sacrifice so that they can put food on the table, send their children to school, make both ends meet, and basically make a living.
MILLIONS of Filipinos. That is a great multitude. I wonder what the Philippine government is doing. Shouldn’t they be providing jobs for my people? What are they in power for? They are in business class sipping the best wine while the economy class of the plane is filled with Filipino workers. We should bring them back. It is going to be a monumental effort but the government should get their act together and do this. It is our national mission. This was my fervent prayer when I lighted a candle for my beloved country at the St. Mary of Lourdes.